US green tech choices may split West, warns Macron

JOE BIDEN last night backed down after a row over massive US green technology subsidies overshadowed the state visit of Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Biden admitted there were “glitches” in his $430 billion (£350 billion) Inflation Reduction Act and said that it would be “tweaked”.

The French president was honoured with the first state visit of Mr Biden’s administration, including a dinner with a menu including 200 Maine lobsters due to take place last night.

However, Mr Macron used the opportunity to lambast Mr Biden’s “superaggressive” move to pass the bill to help US companies.

It was signed by Mr Biden in August and offers what he called the “largest investment in climate change in history”.

Mr Macron also criticised the multibillion-dollar Chips Act to support US semiconductor production.

EU leaders believe the US investments will be a major blow to their economies as they deal with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the French embassy, Mr Macron said: “The choices made, whose goals I share – especially the IRA or the Chips Act – are choices that will fragment the West because they create such differences between the US and Europe.”

He said the legislation that “all those who work in many companies (in the US), they will just think, ‘We don’t make investments anymore on the other side of the Atlantic”’.

Mr Macron complained there would be an “absence of a level playing field”.

Standing next to Mr Biden at the White House, he said: “France has not come to ask for an exemption for our economy, but simply to discuss the consequences of this legislation.”

After a lengthy Oval Office meeting, Mr Biden said: “The US makes no apology, and I make no apology, since I wrote it, for the legislation.”

But he added: “There’s obviously going to be glitches in it and you need to reconcile changes. There’s a lot we can work out. It was never intended to exclude folks who were cooperating with us. We’re going to continue creating manufacturing jobs in the US but not at the expense of Europe.”

Mr Macron said they had agreed to “resynchronise our approach in order to invest in critical emerging industries. We want to succeed together, not one against the other. It’s clear this is the outcome of our discussions”.

The two men sought to smooth over the disagreement, sharing a 40-second handshake.